A Deer’s Journey - Chapter 45 Second Expedition Xx

Approaching the small city, Deer was a stranger to the customs in this place. the one thing he knew, was that they couldn’t stay too long here as this place was not far from where Wiseman’s prison was located, without a doubt he was already aware that they had escaped and sent people after them. Echoing his thoughts, Janvil was the first to break the ice.

“We shouldn’t stay here too long, it is best we get some supplies or see if there is any vessels bound for the South, I don’t doubt that we are already being tracked.”

Entering the city took some effort even though there were no guards at the gate, it was obvious from all appearances that Deer was a stranger to this place. Janvil looked no better in his worn out state. However the two quickly settled with a plan. Janvil would pretend to be a servant sent by Wiseman in charge of Deer who would be acting as a slave, to buy some goods to bring back to the prison. A tentative moment passed by as Deer acting in a grovelling manner all the while pretending as best as he could, walking two steps behind Janvil who proudly walked in front. Although he wasn’t sure if this was right, they had no other options right now.

Fortunately their plan worked and not many people came to give them trouble or ask them questions, apart from a guard who was responsible for monitoring who entered the city. He was too lazy to get up from his comfy positioned desk which was placed after the gates. Security seemed to be lax, making Deer doubt if it was such a good idea to trust Janvil or if he hadn’t been sold already.

They quickly passed through the centre of town and arrived to some sort of stable, hoping there was some sort of explanation from Janvil, Deer was nonetheless disappointed as he seemed to be in deep negotiations with a trader for a vessel. Deer couldn’t see any live creatures in the stables or any sign of a vessel that Janvil had mentioned. He only thought that it might be some type of horse or transport but it seemed like that was not the case.

When it arrived, the vessel was in fact a large bird which flew from overhead towards the stable grounds where it would roost. It only came in after a sharp whistle had been blown by the stable master. the bird was the size of a small carriage and a harness was strapped to the bird.

“Here come faster you dolt!” urging him to go towards him Janvil made a quick signal behind the stablemaster. It looked like his plan was to steal their ride and fly away.

Hobbling closer, all the while paying attention to their surroundings, Deer suddenly rushed towards the man in front knocking him down. The bird was already tethered to the floor which was good else it would have flown off. Janvil came over carrying a spade from wherever he found it and make a quick thump on the back of the stablemaster’s head. Deer remained careful and didn’t say much, only making note of Janvil’s vicious nature.

“Now what?” Questioning his plan, Deer felt that this course of action seemed to be not right but still he knew what was important was to escape.

“I am sure you haven’t flown one of these before but it doesn’t matter. It’s easy, just help me attach this quickly before we get discovered, we need to go now!” The urgency in Janvil’s voice made Deer speed up. He knew there was no better chance than now if they wanted to escape.

Climbing on board the large bird, Janvil remained on the ground while Deer sat on top, “you ready? I’m going let loose this rope, and you need to pull it at the same time.”

Glancing at Janvil, Deer was nervous, “what about you?”

Shaking his head, Janvil made an obvious exasperated sign with his fingers, “of course you need to pull me up too, I’ll hold onto the other end of the rope and climb ok?”

Nodding Deer began to ready himself as he waited for the all important moment. Not a moment sooner, a commotion seemed to come their way. Two large creatures followed by the guard who had recorded their entry seemed to be rushing their way. At the same moment the bird that he was sitting on was already flying upwards, Deer could see a nervous glint appear in Janvil’s eyes.

‘That cross stabber!’ Deer could help to see through his plan, Janvil had waited long for this moment to let him play as decoy while he went off by himself, he was never going to grab that rope.

But at the last moment Deer could still see the rope tauten as the weight of Janvil’s body hung onto it, a moment’s hesitation appeared in his mind while he was thinking whether to let go even as they were high in the sky. However at the same time Janvil was agilely climbing up. Stopping his actions, Deer simply held on. There was no point, he was still a stranger in this place. If not for the pursuit of Wiseman’s creatures, he was sure the only person on the bird would be himself.

The angry sounds of the creatures that had been chasing them as well as the ruckus raised by the guard could still be heard from above. Looking down, the city seemed to get smaller and smaller. Clenching onto the harness tightly, he could feel Janvil nudge him as he snaked his way to front of his body, if not for the situation, Deer would have pushed him off, the sensation of another person so closely touching his body seemed perverted and made him uncomfortable.

“Here let me take control, else this stupid Clown Bird will go back to the city, we need to get away to the South”, it looked like there had been some times Janvil hadn’t lied about which was the safest way to be now was to go to the South.

The question of why they were heading South crossed Deer’s mind for a moment but he didn’t pay it too much attention. There was important things to worry about right now. He also felt more confident, during their escape he hadn’t noticed it but he could see now that for some reason, Goliath had been recalled, and he could summon him again. The system was strange, making plans to test this later, he wanted to make sure when a summoned creature could be recalled and find out the conditions of summoning a creature and the restrictions placed on it. The mood turned slightly sour as he couldn’t help think of Sunder, who had disappeared from his skills menu.

Another thing that had been troubling him was the changes to his body as well as the fear that Sijm might have found herself in a dangerous situation like himself. The only good thing was, he was confident that she might be even be faring better than himself, despite his doubts, he knew that Sijm was more resilient than she led on.